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Flash Fiction ~ Friday the 13th Edition

Genna’s chai tea was cold. And chai was not improved through cooling off. It was always better when it was scalding hot, with just a touch of honey in with the milk and spices. If you could gulp it down, it wasn’t right. It should be sipped slowly, almost painfully, in order to really be good.

But it had been sitting too long.

Just like Genna. And she was rapidly moving in the opposite temperature direction from her tea. From cool, calm and collected – to scalding hot and ready to blow up.

“Jerks,” Genna blurted in a loud exhalation of breath, “They’re superstitious jerks, both of them.”

Grabbing her bag and her tea, she stood abruptly, making the chair protest by squealing against the tile as it was pushed out.

Just because it was Friday the 13th, the world had to stop?

Genna had set up this coffee date with 2 of her best friends, Naomi and Mark. Both had said yes, but obviously they hadn’t noticed the date on the calendar when they’d done so. Genna knew what day it was, and that usually everyone stayed behind closed doors on Friday the 13th. It was silly, really. It was just another day, after all.

I mean, really.

Nothing was going on here. She was the only person in the coffee shop, except the coffee dude. He was back there, busily mixing potions for coffees and teas behind the counter, frothing milk and…. putting hot dogs in the microwave? Wait… what? They didn’t serve hot dogs here.

As he wandered into the back part of the shop, Genna moved up to the counter to put her tray down, and snuck a glance at what was on the other tray sitting in front of the small microwave. The coffee shop used it to heat up things like cookies and specialty sandwiches, but they didn’t serve things as mundane as hot dogs.

Hot dogs…no… hot dogs don’t come with fingernails.

The hair stood up on the back of Genna’s neck, and a shiver ran down her arms as she realized what was going on. Taking a step back, she bumped into another person. The coffee guy, whose breath was hot on her neck.

“You should have stayed home today, ma’am. Most people are bright enough to be afraid and stay out of our way on the 13th. But I guess you’re just not that smart.”

The coffee shop opened bright and early on Saturday the 14th. The floor, spotless, not even really showing where the blood had stained the grout between the tiles.

Jerry, the coffee guy, smiled as he watched the customers meandering in for their morning caffeine fix. Yesterday was over, and it was a new day. Time to make the coffee.